tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post3157065675958684064..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Honoring Those Who Spoke OutKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-76802354281666875042013-05-30T10:29:46.819-04:002013-05-30T10:29:46.819-04:00Larry,
That Joe Frank piece was something - esp. s...Larry,<br />That Joe Frank piece was something - esp. since it lets you read the poem before hearing Frank's trademark delivery. The Homeric reference to men turned into swine was truly subversive - it's not a woman, Circe, who does this mischief, but peace, in Frank's bitter tale. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-88406018782860946202013-05-29T22:53:17.613-04:002013-05-29T22:53:17.613-04:00Thank you for this post. I heard Chris Hayes last ...Thank you for this post. I heard Chris Hayes last year and I'm a fan of Joe Frank's <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4672606" rel="nofollow">"War vs. Peace"</a>, but I didn't know about the rest of them. Even here in liberal California, everyone loves the "heroes," at least on Memorial Day.Larry Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13425250800667058263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-78810468059109776722013-05-28T14:10:33.083-04:002013-05-28T14:10:33.083-04:00Will,
It probably wasn't nice of me to conjure...Will,<br />It probably wasn't nice of me to conjure that image before your lunchtime. Sorry. <br />Maybe it would help to think of another, similar word... how about... fluffernutter? I wiki'd it to make sure it was safe - turns out to have a political history in the Massachusetts State Senate. Per wiki, it's also known as the liberty sandwich... why???<br /><br />http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluffer_nutter<br /><br />"(State Senator Reinstein) claimed she planned to "fight to the death for Fluff" and supported legislation that would make the Fluffernutter the official state sandwich. The measure failed, and Reinstein tried again unsuccessfully in 2009."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-24011127108893480982013-05-28T12:59:30.324-04:002013-05-28T12:59:30.324-04:00...NYT comment moderators green-light this rhetori......NYT comment moderators green-light this rhetorical gem of a rebuttal to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/opinion/krugman-the-obamacare-shock.html?comments&_r=0#permid=2" rel="nofollow">KG's excellent Krugman/ACA comment</a> yesterday: <br /><br /><i><b>Jack - Illinois</b><br />Come on Karen. I'm waiting for you to give President Obama credit.</i><br /><br />I mean, c o m e _ o n .pete vhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02489398325160874093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-43374306151730361852013-05-28T11:36:47.230-04:002013-05-28T11:36:47.230-04:00Anonymous,
The images dancing in my mind of Stu ...Anonymous, <br /><br />The images dancing in my mind of Stu & Rima taking turns as Obama's personal fluffer have me giggling like an 8th grader. I don't know whether to thank you or curse you. Probably both. :)Willnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-84499917931024012852013-05-27T22:49:54.458-04:002013-05-27T22:49:54.458-04:00The very special skill of politicians is defined b...The very special skill of politicians is defined by Glenn Greenwald in the opening paragraphs of his critique of O's Big Speech of last week.<br />http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/27/obama-war-on-terror-speech<br /><br />"The hallmark of a skilled politician is the ability to speak to a group of people holding widely disparate views, and have all of them walk away believing they heard what they wanted to hear."<br /><br />I should apologize for my bad habit of calling Obama a liar. O is merely the latest world-class poster child for ambiguity and deception through the skilful use of words meeting each other coming down the hill. <br /><br />If only more of us had paid attention in the fifth grade when teachers like Karen taught us how to diagram and parse sentences. That skill equals dozens of courses in logic and political science.Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-40853526487600345032013-05-27T17:14:25.106-04:002013-05-27T17:14:25.106-04:00spreadoption:
as far as the NYT comments go, it se...spreadoption:<br />as far as the NYT comments go, it seems to be cyclical. I've been reading them with a near-religious zeal (or, more aptly, a morbid fascination) since 2007, and kept a tally for a good half of 2010.<br />This particular moment in time does not seem to be one in which Obama critics are winning many "recommends", but I can't back that up with a spreadsheet. I've just observed more critical Democratic readers posting in the post-election lulls. As the campaigns emerge on the distant horizon, the herd (perhaps with reason) tightens, and it feeks like that's where we're currently at.<br />I also wonder to what extent we're being played when we read the comments:<br />1) I've many times submitted comments in praise of Garcia comments that don't get published - so along the same lines, how many comments critical of Obama are simply not being posted?<br />2) If you've got an org like OFA that is cash-rich, can't you just hire people to upvote the blindly pro-Obama comments? This is one reason I stopped keeping a tally of how many "recommends" the Obama critics received, next to, say, predictable Obama fluffers like Stu in Brooklyn and Rima Regas in Mission Viejo. <br /><br />OTOH, Obama is his own special kind of adorable teflon, so it could all be very genuine. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-1211932382730732532013-05-27T16:42:01.200-04:002013-05-27T16:42:01.200-04:00Could Obama win a third (hypothetical) term? I go...Could Obama win a third (hypothetical) term? I go back and forth on that. <br /><br />I was thrilled to find, in the NYT editorial Karen references, a number of commenters, including some regulars besides Karen, with strongly-worded opposition to Obama. My first reaction is, Hooray, the Left is waking up! And what if the NYT is waking up! Let's hope they get into the habit (though this piece was seemingly not widely read - only 124 comments at my last count). <br /><br />Even in several of our little towns along the west coast, there were demonstrations against Monsanto on Saturday, joining what I understand was a worldwide day of protest against that particular corporation for their crimes against humanity. <br /><br />Is there movement beginning, of a magnitude strong enough to do any good? Too soon to tell, but this is encouraging. <br /><br />The message I try to sell: Is it that Obama is afraid to look weak to the Republicans, or is it that he is one with them? The fights in Washington are not over substantial differences in policy; the fights are theater over who wins the next election. Until those of us on the Left understand these two simple realities, we cannot begin to make our nation a better one. <br /><br />Still, it's hard to be optimistic. If the Democratic Party is but a variation of the Republican Party, and if more people on the Left stay home in 2016 or vote for a third party, in disgust over Obama and the Democrats... well, how do we ever get off this dismal merry-go-round? <br />spreadoptionnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-22545676961104803662013-05-27T12:56:34.851-04:002013-05-27T12:56:34.851-04:00I really wish Jay was right, but I'm not seein...I really wish Jay was right, but I'm not seeing any sea change when it comes to media's fawning over Obambi. Liz Drew in NYRB, and Jane whoever at The New Yorker, On the Media, etc, are still gung-ho for the Commander in Chief, despite the forgettable little farts of protest from Ryan Lizza and one or two NYT editorials.<br /><br />It's wholly disheartening to read the comments in the Times week after week. This remains, to them, all Bush's fault, with Obama having no power to change course. And it's only going to get worse. The blind Obama followers are about to descend on the Thersites(es) of the commentariat (such as La Garcia) as the 2014 elections loom.<br /><br />Were it not for the two-term limit, I'm certain Obama could win a third term. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-74105861954868446212013-05-27T12:27:15.530-04:002013-05-27T12:27:15.530-04:00As Karen makes clear, more and more journalists ar...As Karen makes clear, more and more journalists are catching on to the lie on two feet called Obama. <br /><br />I doubt he could ever win a third term (under the so called "Bloomberg Exception," a bill drawn up by the Progressive Caucus and now circulating in the Senate) –– unless of course the Republican party puts up another candidate that once again makes Obama the lesser of two evils.<br />;-/Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-62764348242592922702013-05-27T11:27:32.029-04:002013-05-27T11:27:32.029-04:00Great post, Karen, I'm looking forward to re-r...Great post, Karen, I'm looking forward to re-reading the Zinn and others.<br /><br />I wonder if in this collection, you might include the anti-drug-war statements of David Simon and Michelle Alexander. After all, the war on drugs has been fought with soldiers and guns, many of the armaments being produced by the military-industrial complex, but it lacks the attention (despite its forty years) received by the last decade's foreign wars and occupations.<br /><br />To what extent is our ability to ignore the vast casualties and destruction of the four-decade-long drug war -even those battles fought on our own soil - linked to our entrenched class and race bias? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com